Another glorious start to the day, blue skies and calm.

Al set to with the strimmer before the heat got too much. Within the hour he had got the bracken cleared and it looks so much better.

I was on clearing out the heat box for the outbuilding, should be a 10 minute job until discovering a big ants nest….GREAT!!!! So the whole thing took some what longer….on and off all day with getting rid of the ants, re meshing the duct and cleaning up the glass.

In between the ants I also was giving the old outbuilding floor a tres bien scrub as twas filthy, looks much better now and putting your bare feet down on the floor ain’t so grim!

A good salad lunch under the parasol before we went ahead with building the steps between the 2 different levels of terraces. Something I really wanted to get done.

The hardest part was cutting the wood, just because of the heat. We opted for very simple steps but we think it works well and they do not wobble.

It managed to get them finished by the end of the day and had just enough time to get rid of the final ants before re assembling the heat box.

We had new dinner on the agenda BBQ spare ribs. Luckily we had a quick gander on the internet re cooking times as I have never cooked them before. I thought it was a quick cook thing but no, no no they like long time cooking.

So we ended up whacking them in the oven for just over an hour marinaded in herbs and spices before cooking them for the final 40 mins on my brothers BBQ they bought us for travelling. Outcome, tasty and great with a salad afterwards. Don’t think we would have them every day but good for a change. It was just lovely sitting outside eating, drinking, playing cards and chatting in warm weather, no bugs and nobody around just the sound of the river. Idyllic.

A quick wash up then I was keen to get into bed and finish my book, great book well worth a read The Sepulchre. Thanks J&S really enjoyed it especially reading it whilst down here as it is all about this area, well close enough anyway. I think Al will really enjoy it too.